Stamping, marking, or numbering machine.



F. W. MERRIGK.

STAMPING, MARKING, on NUMBERING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 10,1910.

Patented June 24, 1913.

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P. W. MBRRICK.

STAMPING, MARKING, OR NUMBERING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN,10,1910.

1,065,885, Patented June 24,1913;

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Original application filed June 12, 1907, Serial No. 878,809. .Dividedand this application filed January 10,

Specification of Letters Patent.

1910. Serial No. 537,101.

To all whom it may-concerns:

Be it known that I, FRANK Mansion, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suifolk, State of Massachusetts,have invented a certain newclass containing a type-head or printing--head having a plurality of wheels located side by side and bearing attheir peripheries .printing characters in the form of letters,

numerals, and the like, the respective typewheels being set to presentthe required characters thereof in position for printing colored andstained.

by being turned or rotated in the said typehead or printing-head. As theprinting characters, and the wheels themselves become dirty and cloggedwith ink, lint, etc, they require to be cleaned. The cleaning iseffected from time to time by means of a brush and some suitable solventof the ink that is used for the marking or printing. The cleaningoperation is performed with more or less inconvenience and difiiculty ifthe printing-wheels remain in the machine,

and is accompanied by more or-less spattering of cleaning liquid anddissolved ink upon other portions of the machine and the surroundings,for instance articles requiring to be or which have been marked orprinted, and the clothing of the operator, and the hands and face of theoperator become dis- One object of my invention is to remedy thisinconvenience and obviate these undesirable features.

Another is to facilitate the operations of assembling the parts of amachine and subsequently taking them apart.

Another is to render it possible to quickly substitute a diflerent setof wheels for the set previously in use.

The invention consists in a stamping or numbering machine having aseries of settable type-wheels or type-carriers, assembled and connectedtogether, and so combined with the type-head or printing-head as torender the series removable and replaceable .series of Wheels enmasse,without disassociqating them from one another, enables the A series tobe taken out of the type-head or printing-head at any time, and placedin a liquid whichlwill dissolve out accumulations of ink, therebypermitting the wheels to be kept clean without the labor andinconvenience of brushing them out by hand While in place in themachine. It enables also quick substitution of another set of wheels tobe effected.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is represented in thedrawings, in which latter,

Figure 1 shows in side elevation suflicient of a stamping, marking, ornumbering machine to enablert-he invention and its application to suchmachine to be explained.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a type-head,.

showing the said preferred embodiment of the invent-ion. Fig. 3 is afront view, and Fig. 4a side view of one section of the barrel for thetype-wheels. Fig. 5 is a front view, and Fig. 6a side view, of the othersection of such barrel. Figs. 7 and 8 are views of one of the washershereinafter mentioned. Fig. 9 is a detail view showing in side elevationa portion of one of the side-pieces or cheeks of the type-head.

Having reference to the drawings,-At 3 is one of the side-pieces of themachineframe, at 5 a portion of the arm of the work-support, at 6 arelatively raised portion of the Work-support at the outer end of thelatter, and at 7 a work-rest upon such portion, consisting pf a block orpad which may be composed of rubber or other yielding material. Theseries of typewheels or type-carriers 15, 15, are mounted in a typeheadcomprising a top-piece 13 and opposite side-pieces or cheeks 14, 14, thetype-wheels or type-carriers being arranged between the said side-piecesor cheeks. The type-head is fastened by screws depress the type-headcarrier, type-head, and t pe-wheels, and cause the proper printin caracters of the said type-wheels to tone the surface of the articwork-rest 7.

All of the parts thus far referred to, and their construction,connections, etc., may be as set forth in my ap l ication for UnitedStates Letters Patent f dr stamping, marking, or numbering machine filedJune 12, 1907, Serial No. 378,609, the present invention being adivision of that of the said application, and the mode of operation maybe described in the specification of such application. The type-wheels15, 15, are mounted upon a supporting barrel which referably' iscomposed, as in the application aforesaid, of cylindrical sections 16and 17, upon the peripheries of which the typewheels are e supported bythe capable of turning, and the type-wheels are separated from oneanother and spaced at the pro-per distance apart by washers 19,

.19, also mounted upon the outside of the barrel 16, 17 a Washer alsobeing placed at the outside of each of the end type-wheels of theseries. Thecombined series of typewheels and washers is confined in laceupon the barrel by means of rims or anges 161, 171, with which therespective sections of the barrel are provided. Section 17 fits upon areduced cylindrical extension 162 of section 16, and the two sectionsare held together by means of longitudinally-extending screws 22, 22',and expanding spiral springs 23, 23,'the said springs being compressedbetween the enlarged or flanged heads of the screws and the shoulders atthe inner ends of the holes which are bored in the section 16 toaccommodate the said heads. Each section of the barrel is formed with agroove or. key-way 21, to receive the in-' wardly-projecting bits orkeys 20 of the washers, and when the sections are fitted together thegrooves or key-ways are in line with each other. As thus constructed andcombined the type-wheels, .barrel, etc., form an assemblage which can behandled as a unit, in putting the machine together or in removing orreplacingthe series of typewheels. The specific features of theconstruction form no part of the present invention. The said assemblageis mounted in the type-head on a supporting shaft 18 extending crosswiseof the type-head and having bearings in holes formed in the side-piecesor cheeks 14, 14, one of such bearings or holes being marked 14 in F i9. The said sha'ft 18 is engaged with the arrel, so as to cause thebarrel to turn in unison with the shaft 18, when the latter is turned byhand for the purpose of settingthe type-wheels. In this connection Iemploy for such purpose, and in addition for the purposes of theinvention, a projection 25, Fig. 2, ex-

5 and 6 in the extension 162 of section 16.

For convenience in turning the shaft 18 by hand, it is furnished with aknurled head 181, Figs. 1 and 2.

It may be explained that-the type-wheels are locked in the ositions towhich they have been adjusted in being set, and are held from undesiredturning movement, by means of movable detents 27, 27 which in thisinstance are'mounted upon a pivotal pin 28, Fig. 1, located at the frontof the t pe-head and carried by the side-pieces or c-eeks 14, 14, of thelatter. One of these detents is provided for each type-wheel. Eachdetent is provided with an acting portion to correspond with the spacesor notches between successive types or printing-characters of thetype-wheel with which such detent coacts, and to engage with the typesor printing-characters between which it may be entered, so as thereby tohold the type-wheel from rotation in either direction. The detents arecaused to engage with the typewheels and normally are kept in engagementtherewith by means of spring-actuated plungers 29, one for each detent,as in the application aforesaid. Should the shaft 18 be rotated by hand,without any of the do tents having been disengaged from the type wheels,the shaft, barrel, and washers will turn without turning thetype-wheels, which last will be kept from moving by the detents. Butshould one of the detents, or more than one, be disengaged from thecorresponding type-wheel or'ty e-wheels, and be kept out of engagement terewith while the shaft 18 is rotated, then such type-wheel ortype-wheels will be caused by the frictional engagement of the adjacentwashers therewith to turn in unison with the said washers and the shaftrelative to the remaining type-wheels, which, continuing to be held bytheir detents, will remain stationary. These features form no part ofthe present invention.

In carrying the present invention into effect, and for the purpose offacilitating the removal and replacement of the assembled series oftype-wheels bodily from the type-head, and the replacement of suchseries therein, the check or side-piece 14 of the type-head nextadjacent the knurled head 181 of shaft 18 is made with a notch 14, Fig.9, opening radially from the bear ing hole 14 that is made for thereception of the shaft 18. This notch is large enough head 181 until thesaid pin or projection 25 registers with the notch. and then the shaftis pulled endwis'e, withdrawing it from the center of the said series ofwheels and from the hearings in the side-pieces or cheeks 14, 14, thepin or projection moving through the notch. The withdrawal of the shaftpermits the series of wheels to drop or be taken out from between theside-pieces or cheeks. As hereinbefore expressed in part, this capacityfor convenient removal of the series of Wheels en (masse is veryimportant, because it enables them to be taken out at any time as a unitand be placed to soak in a liquid that will dissolve out accumulationsof ink, thereby enabling the wheels to be kept clean without the laborof brushing them out by hand while in place within the machine, andwithout the objectionable drawbacks hereinbefore set forth. It providesalso for quick replacement of the setof wheels. and for readysubstitution of another set of wheels.

\Vhat I claim is 1. In a stamping or numbering machine, in combination,a series of settable typewheels and a barrel constituting a carriertherefor, said wheels and barrel secured together and constituting anorganized unit removable as a whole and remainin intact after removal, acentral support or said unit, rotatable for effecting the setting ofsaid type-wheels, and adapted to be disengaged from the said unit topermit removal thereof as a whole, and a type-head constructed to permitready removal of said unit after such disengagement withoutdisorganization of said type-head.

2. In a stamping or numbering machine, in combination, a series ofsettable typewheels and a barrel constituting a carrier therefor, and onwhich said type-wheels are respectively rotatable for setting the same,said wheels and barrel combined and secured together to constitute anorganized unit removable as a whole and remaining intact after removal,a type-head constructed to permit ready removal and re lacement of saidunit, and a rotatable sha t occupying hearings in connection with saidtypehead, passing through said barrel and supporting the latter inworking position, serving as a means of turning the barrel andtype-wheels in setting the latter, also adapted to be withdrawn topermit the said unit to be removed bodily from the type-head, andprovided with locking means for securing it removably in workingosition.

In testimony whereof I a x my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK W. MERRICK.

Witnesses:

C. J. LIN'IWEILER, FREDERICK SOMES.

